Food & Beverage

Chicago pizzeria to feature hemp leaf pies

Ziese Farms will supply the hemp used as a replacement for basil on Paper Thin Pizza's pies. (Photo: Ziese Farms)

March 5, 2021

Chicago's Paper Thin Pizza is making the many-pointed star-shaped leaves of the hemp plant the star of its pizzas for a special seating on March 6. The pizzeria, which is inside Fox Bar in Soho House Chicago, said in a news release that it will use hemp greens as a basil replacement on the pies.

Paper Thin Pizza's Andrew Anthony believes the hemp leaf — or as the product is better known hemp greens— will help draw customers to the restaurant. He also said the opening at 6 p.m., March 6 will be a limited-run, first-come first-serve event with approximately 35 seats available for indoor dining. The hemp microgreens are available as a topping by request.

The leaf "is visually striking and an interesting new concept," Anthony said in the release. "People are attracted to things they've never seen before. We are excited to offer something new to consumers."

Ziese Farms, a Washington State hemp food company that has worked with the FDA, USDA and White House to secure allowances for food use and cultivation methods, is supplying the leaf. Although hemp is already known as a superfood, Ziese Farms said it has developed proprietary cultivars with unique nutritional and taste profiles.

The hemp leaf contains more protein and calcium than the same weight of milk as well as more potassium than in a banana.

"The hemp industry is focused on the flower," Ziese Farms founder Melissa Heldreth (Ziese) said. "Ziese Farms believes the entire plant holds promise and there is a larger need for plant-based nutrition and protein moving forward."

Paper Thin Pizza is on North Green Street in the Windy City.